Just bought a 24RL and Need solar help!!!!

[Jeff 338]

I just bought a 2021 24 RL that i will be taking to north west WY for stay around Tetons and Yellowstone. It will be left there year around. I plan to do 100% boondocking. We travel up there 2-3 times a year and stay 2-3 weeks at a time. So i want to install enough solar to handle the heat which we like it cold at night heat will be set in the low 60's, microwave, lights, charge our phones and camera batteries and water pump. When we are there we spend most of the day away from the trailer the only time it will be used is very shortly in the early AM and at night before bed to warm dinner up and do a little work with the lights on. So any idea on how much solar i need?? Do they make a portable kit that i don't need to bolt to the roof and can store inside?? Thank for any help.

[DanNJanice]

There are several items that are real energy hogs and if you insist on running them off of your battery banks they will dramatically affect your energy needs.
They are microwaves, toasters, coffee makers, hair dryers, electric heaters, and air conditioning, might be a couple more that I left out.
My wife and I boondock almost exclusively in the pacific northwest. We have 200 watts of solar and two deep cycle batteries. Our panels are portable so we get several hours more solar power per day than fixed panels. The portable panels also allow us to park in the shade eliminating the need for air conditioning most of the time. If I had fixed roof mount panels I might be up closer to 300 watts or so.
Now, the reason this works for us is because we carry a small 2000 watt generator and we run everything possible off of propane. Refridge, oven and range, perc coffee, furnace, ect all primarily run off of the propane tanks. When we want to run the energy hogs, we fire up the genny and give the batteries a rest. Also, if we find ourselves with multiple days of cloud cover (common in the NW) the genny will pick up the slack.
If you insist on running everything off of batteries, including the energy hogs, then you will need considerably more power and expense.
There are people on these forums that run everything off of solar and they can discuss what is required better than I can.

[Jeff 338]

Thanks . We will only run the Microwave a couple times a day mainly at night for a couple minutes. I would try and run most everything on propane that i can i've even considered buying a little buddy heater to use. I do plan on having a Honda 3000 watt gen that i can use to help out but you can't run that all night. i was thinking on the lines of 400watts of solar but i need to do more research on it and like to hear from more people that do the same thing i am planning on doing.

[DanNJanice]

Originally Posted by Jeff 338

Thanks . We will only run the Microwave a couple times a day mainly at night for a couple minutes. I would try and run most everything on propane that i can i've even considered buying a little buddy heater to use. I do plan on having a Honda 3000 watt gen that i can use to help out but you can't run that all night. i was thinking on the lines of 400watts of solar but i need to do more research on it and like to hear from more people that do the same thing i am planning on doing.

Our typical usage, assuming we are not camping in the dead of winter, is about 50 amp hours over the course of the night. That includes watching a couple of hours of TV, charging cell phones, furnace fan, water pump and LED lights. My 200 watts of solar panels can usually restore that by 2 or 3pm.

400 watts should be plenty based on what you describe, unless you try to run the air off of the batteries. If you want to run any of the other high current items off of the batteries you will need to pretty robust inverter, something like 2000 watts. With that large of an inverter you will need to do some rewiring to insure the wiring between the batteries and the inverter are large enough.

The relationship between 120VAC devices and running off of 12V batteries is 10:1. So if a 120VAC device draws 1 amp when plugged into shore power, you will see approx. 10amps drawn from your battery bank when running through the inverter.

One thing I am thinking about is mounting two panels on the roof. I will then have 400watts total. If I am boondocking in Arizona I might not need anything but the panels on top. If I am someplace that is "sunlight challenged", then I can get out the portable panels to supplement.

Also, pop over to our RVing with Solar group, lots of good information there.
Here is the link: https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/g...ith+solar.html

[ARoamer]

There's lots of variables that depend on your existing equipment unless you intend on upgrading everything.
What size is your inverter? What size and type of batteries is your battery bank?

[Jeff 338]

I just bought the trailer so i don't have any of it. I plan on building it totally new. I just trying to figure out whats needed to handle what im wanting to run for the time i need to run it.

[Duke4857]

For us solar is a hobby. I have 1/100 watt solar panel that I built myself keeps the batteries charged for heat and 12 volt needs. I have the parts to build another one, that is a time issue for now. We have no inverter. My wife has health issues, she needs the A/C when it is hot. We have 2 Honda 2.000 generators that we run the A/C with. I call them the twins. As for batteries, we have 2 battery banks. We have the 2 12 volt batteries that came with the trailer on one bank and we have 2, 6 volt Trogen golf cart batteries that I had. When one bank goes low on volts, I switch to the other bank. The only reason I did this is because you cannot mix 12 volt batteries and 6 volt batteries. I have them so I use them. I hope to go with 4 /6 volt golf cart batteries when these die. it would simplify things. You might want to start small ad work up to what you actualy need. Batteries are storage for what solar you have. If you do not have enough storage, than no sence of putting extra solar.

I just discovered this is a old thread. I hope it still helps.